Cauliflower ‘Chicken’ Cutlets
Ever since I came up with my cauliflower wings I was thinking of making “chicken” cutlets but recently I saw a post by Mary Wolf Dregalla on McDougall Friends that inspired me to get this out there asap!
Ingredients:
-1 head of cauliflower
-1 cup flour (I used whole wheat, others use chickpea flour, etc)
-1 cup water (or unsweetened almond milk)
-1 tsp poultry seasoning (for breadcrumbs)
-other spices for the breadcrumbs (optional such as onion/garlic powder, nutritional yeast, salt – I didn’t add nutritional yeast)
-1 cup of breadcrumbs (I made them with 5 pieces of whole wheat bread baked in oven until dried out, blended with dashes of onion/garlic powder, salt and poultry seasoning. Most of the flavor comes from the coating so don’t be shy there are no hard and fast rules here). Enough to coat your cauliflower cutlets, you may need more so make extra!
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 450F. Wash and cut cauliflower into 1/2″ to 3/4″ thick cutlets (see photo). The number of cutlets you get will depend on the size of the cauliflower. Mix the flour, water and whisk to combine in a large bowl. It should be like a thick pancake batter. Dip the cutlets into the batter and mix to coat each cutlet. Then dip each cutlet into a bowl of breadcrumbs so that they are fully coated and lay onto a baking sheet lined with silpat non-stick sheet (or parchment paper). Repeat until all cutlets are coated, breaded and put onto the sheet. You may need more or less batter depending on how big a cauliflower you have.
Bake the cutlets until they are crispy and browned, about 20 minutes (before they start to burn!) then flip carefully and bake for another 10 minutes. Some of the coating may come off when you flip (if you flip too early or depending on what non-stick surface you put them on). Serve topped with my marinara sauce and even a side of pasta and veggies. The sauce will be key to making these really taste good, on their own there’s not a ton of flavor. You can add cheesiness if you want like nutritional yeast or some of the vegan mozzarella recipes out there (using tapioca starch).
Other ideas: Eat these as ‘chicken’ sandwiches with my ranch dip or with pasta sauce and jalapenos on a flat bread (see photo below). You may have to cut the cutlets if there are too big for your bread. The possibilities are endless!
